


Feel Free to Ask

by suchanadorer



Series: Two Two One Bravo Baker Universe [22]
Category: Sherlock (TV), two two one bravo baker - Fandom
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-01
Updated: 2011-12-01
Packaged: 2017-10-26 18:27:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/286522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suchanadorer/pseuds/suchanadorer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To Pati79, based on her prompt:  Sherlock asks McMath "Why Henn?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Feel Free to Ask

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Спрашивай, не стесняйся](https://archiveofourown.org/works/458616) by [dzenka](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dzenka/pseuds/dzenka)
  * Inspired by [Two Two One Bravo Baker](https://archiveofourown.org/works/180121) by [abundantlyqueer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/abundantlyqueer/pseuds/abundantlyqueer). 



Sherlock rounds the artillery wall on the river bank, and glances around. He stops when he sees McMath sitting alone near the edge of the river, knees drawn up, staring at the water in front of him. He’s gathered a small pile of stones and is tossing them into the water.

“You need flatter stones if you’re going to skip them.” Sherlock bends, picks up two near his feet that fit the criteria, and moves to sit next to McMath. The day is hot and still, and the muddy bank has dried, leaving footprints pressed into the dirt around them. Sherlock lays his body armor down beside him.

McMath gives him a cursory glance, shifting his feet and grunting a greeting as Sherlock settles down next to him, legs stretched out straight, feet crossed at the ankles. Sherlock leans back on his elbows, watching the sun glitter off the dingy water. He sends one of his own rocks out onto the river with a flick of his wrist. It skips two, three times along the surface before disappearing on its way to the opposite bank.

“Did you want something, Holmes?” McMath doesn’t look at him as he speaks. He weighs a small stone in his hand, turning it carefully between his fingers.

“I was going to go for a swim, but I hadn’t anticipated spectators.” Sherlock pushes off from his elbows, drawing his feet towards him. He watches McMath out of the corner of his eye for a moment, then clears his throat. “McMath-“

“You can call me Mac. Everyone else does.”

“Even Marine Henn?”

McMath stiffens, his eyes narrowing. He sucks in his lips and scratches at a bead of sweat that’s run down out of his hair to the nape of his neck. “Why did you really come down here?“

“I ran into Henn and Blackwood on my way down. They seemed to be a quite a hurry.” The flex of McMath’s jaw gives him away; Sherlock’s eyes go wide but he says nothing.

“I _was_ in the Alpha fireteam tent,” Sherlock says, “but Marine Henn and Corporal Blackwood came in and obviously wanted some privacy - quite badly.”

“You came down here to tell me what Henn and Blackwood are doing?”

“Since you’re also having sex with Henn, I thought you ought to know.” Sherlock watches McMath out of the corner of his eye, his expression neutral for a moment before his eyes sharpen. “Ah.”

McMath frowns and looks down at his chest, then his hands. “What ‘ah’? There is no ah.”

Sherlock turns his head, knitting his brows as his eyes move over McMath’s face and body.

“I assumed you _didn’t_ know Henn was fucking Blackwood.”

McMath’s jaw tightens and his eyes darken momentarily. “I did. I didn’t know he was doing it right this minute, though, so thank you for that.”

“I’m sorry,” Sherlock says. "Given how you feel about Henn I thought you should know about his interest in Blackwood, but it appears I misjudged the situation. You’ve obviously known about them for some time.”

There is a long pause. McMath raises a hand so his mouth, worrying at the bed of his thumbnail while he watches the water.

“You’ve got a lot of nerve.”

McMath stands, stretching his arms above his head. Sherlock squints against the sun as he tips his head to look up at him.

“I just don’t understand why you put yourself through it. Is he worth it?”

McMath doesn’t speak, but he wheels around, looming over Sherlock. “Why him, then? What is it about him?” Sherlock insists.“I don’t know.”

“How can you not know?”

“ _I don’t._ ” McMath shifts uncomfortably, toeing at the back of one boot heel. “Sex with him is... but it’s not just that. It’s... he’s – Fuck. What the hell kind of question is that, anyway?” Sherlock sits silently, watching McMath as he starts to pace along the shoreline, rubbing at the back of his neck as he talks. “He’s a great commando; he came to us mid-tour and, Christ, he just fit right in. This is what he’s made for, all he’s ever wanted, and watching him do it is watching how it’s supposed to be done.”

Sherlock waits, fingertips pressed together in front of his mouth. McMath’s expression softens; he smiles and looks off into the distance before continuing.

“We were coming back from Bastion, a couple of months after he got here, just the two of us hitching a ride back on a chopper making a cargo run. Somewhere right around the provincial border a hawk hit the tail rotor hard. The chopper started spinning down, the pilot was yelling ‘Mayday’. I was seriously fucking scared – I mean, I wasn’t screaming or anything but – I looked over at Henn and he was grinning, I mean, he was wired but he was grinning. I think I said something incredibly stupid, like ‘do you realize you might be going to die?’ and he said – he said, ‘yeah, but I don’t have to die scared’. “

McMath huffs his breath out and shakes his head.

“Then, we hit the ground. The chopper was a write-off and the pilot was hurt, but the two of us and the copilot were okay except for a few cuts and bruises. Then the locals spotted us and started shooting. We called for an evac, of course, but the pilot was pinned in the cockpit and we couldn’t get him out so they had to drop another couple of guys on us with cutting equipment, and every five minutes that passed another few of the local Taliban boys turned up to join in and – Henn was right there, lying over the front of the cockpit like a Page Three girl selling a sports car, taking potshots at the Taliban and telling the pilot dirty jokes. He wouldn’t leave until everyone else was out.”

“You stayed with him.”

“I’d have been too ashamed to go without him. He’s in his element, and he’s happy to be here. Here. Some days he’s the only thing that can make me smile. We’ll be taking fire and he’ll be right there, making jokes like this was any other job. It’s like he thinks bullets can’t hit him, and he makes you think they can’t hit you, either. And have you seen him smile?” The affection in McMath’s voice and face when he poses the question catch Sherlock off-guard. “Don’t ask me this. Not here, not now. We’ve got work to do that’s more important than that.” He waves a hand dismissively back towards the camp.

“Protecting me as a cover to protect yourself.” Sherlock rises, wiping at the back of his pants before he lifts his body armor again.

“What about you, then?” McMath says. “You and Doc. Why him?”

“That has nothing to do with-“

“I didn’t start this. You shouldn’t ask those questions if you’re not prepared to answer them.”

“He’s – He’s John. You’ve lived with him, worked with him. You know him.” Sherlock sighs, raking his fingers through his hair.

“But I’m not in love with him,” McMath says. “Explain it to me.”

Sherlock gestures vaguely, but no words come and he looks at McMath, at a loss .

“Not as easy as you thought, is it?”

Sherlock shakes his head, lips pressed together and eyes almost contrite.

“But he knows, doesn’t he?”

Sherlock nods, then smiles at McMath.

“You should tell Henn.”

“No.” McMath turns away from Sherlock and sits again, closer to the water’s edge this time.

“It’s my job to observe, to see things about people. You should tell him.” Sherlock waits a beat, but McMath doesn’t answer; he just casts another stone into the muddy water, so Sherlock turns and walks back up the river bank.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to abundantlyqueer for the beta and the story about Henn, McMath and the helicopter!


End file.
